At Yavneh Academy, the school year will start with a new and exciting twist that began in June, when 20,000 educators gathered together for four days to share and learn from one another at a conference known as ISTE, the International Society for Technology in Education. Leading educators from 67 nations present sessions to inspire and instruct their colleagues in an atmosphere of sharing and collaboration. ISTE 2014 was held in Atlanta. While technology is a component of the happenings at ISTE, the real focus is innovative education and global collaboration.

Yavneh Academy sent 12 of its educators to ISTE 2014, one of the largest contingents of educators from any single school at the conference. After an intense and exhausting four days, these 12 trailblazers returned to Yavneh armed to the teeth with teaching ideas and learning concepts, ready to share with their colleagues. They will bring Yavneh the collaborative atmosphere they experienced at ISTE and establish a professional learning network among the faculty to allow for an informal atmosphere of ongoing conversations about teaching and learning among colleagues.

Students are the beneficiaries of the innovations these 12 teachers bring to Yavneh. From the changes to the physical layout of the classrooms, to exploration of Passion-Based Learning, to the Maker Movement, to coding, to bringing global learning through blogging and video production, the ISTE excitement will be felt throughout the school. Yavneh’s students, members of the “techweb generation,” are facing a future in which they will have jobs that do not yet exist, to solve problems that are not yet known. Through the leadership of the ISTE attendees, Yavneh is now a future-friendly school.